City aims to unclog roads to airport

HCM CITY — HCM City will focus on easing traffic jams in the two worst affected areas before year-end -- roads leading to Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport and Cát Lái Port -- an official has said.

Director of the city Department of Transport, Bùi Xuân Cường, said many solutions are planned to unclog the roads leading up to the airport in Tân Bình District.

They include two metro lines and the elevated railway line No.1 along Cộng Hoà Street connecting the airport area, he said.

But the immediate requirement is for two flyovers at the airport, he said.

One Y-shaped flyover would be built at the airport to allow vehicles to travel to the international and domestic terminals, and plans for it are ready, he said.

The other would be built at Phạm Văn Đồng Street - Nguyễn Kiệm Street to connect to the airport, he said.

The city is awaiting Government approval for choosing the contractor for it, and construction is expected to be finished by year end, he said.

The airport handles 30 million passengers a year, higher than its designed capacity of 25 million.

Traffic jams often occur in the surrounding streets on Friday afternoons.

At the Cát Lái Port in District 2, traffic jams frequently occur between 6pm and 11 pm.

Cường said the congestion would worsen this year since the number of vehicles going in and out of the port is increasing.

The volume of goods handled at the port in the first half of the year increased by 11 per cent year-on-year. It handles 43 million tonnes a year while its capacity is only 36 million tonnes.

The city has 10 infrastructure projects lined up for the port area, including the new Bình Lợi Bridge, Cường said.

The new bridge is expected to be finished in 12 months’ time.

By then all goods from Bình Dương and Tây Ninh provinces will be transported to the port by barges and not road like now.

A task force has been established to deal with traffic congestion near Cát Lái Port in District 2.

Members of the team will work in the area to regulate traffic and submit daily reports on the traffic situation near the port.

Accident-prone spots

The city had 18 spots with a large number of traffic accidents as of the end of June, two more than a year earlier, according to the department.

They include the intersection of Trường Chinh and Phạm Văn Đồng streets in Tân Bình, the Thủ Đức fly-over system in Thủ Đức District and Mỹ Thuỷ fly-over system in District 2 and the An Sương Crossroads in District 12.

At the An Sương Crossroads, there were eight accidents in the first six months of the year that left nine people dead.

The city also has plans to mitigate the danger faced by motorists at these spots.

At the An Sương Crossroads, for instance, more traffic lights have been installed and roads widened. A tunnel is planned to be built.

Trần Quang Thắng, head of the HCM City Institute of Economics and Management, said besides infrastructure and technology, people’s awareness and adherence to traffic rules, like driving in the right lanes and not driving on pavements or speeding, are also reasons for certain spots becoming dangerous.